Captured
by Ane
Summary: Duo is taken prisoner after a mission to get rid of an up and coming organization. Will the pilots and Hilde find him in time?
1. Chapter 1

A/N- So I wrote this story about three years ago and it was really, really short. So I'm revising it and adding a bunch of stuff. Hope you like it

Run…Run…Run. All he could think about was getting his ass out of there. He heard a gunshot, and then felt a burning, sharp pain in his right leg. He stumbled, but continued to run. 'Damn, how did I get myself into this?' He thought. He now heard more gunshots, followed by more guards yelling. As he rounded a corner he felt a sharp pain go through his stomach be fore he hit the ground. He looked up to see ex-OZ officers surrounding him. 'Hilde' was his last though before blacking out.

They had been on a mission to nip a new up and coming organization in the bud. Although the new group only had a few members, they took precautions to make sure it didn't grow.

Duo was in and out of consciousness as he was dragged through the air ship they had just attacked. He could see a long trail of his blood behind him and new it wasn't good. He was being carried by a big burly man with an evil glint in is eyes. The reached an interrogation room where Duo was tied to a chair. The man sat on top of the desk in front of Duo's chair and proceeded to ask him questions.

"So, where are your friends?"

"Friends? Hmm, don't have any of those."

"Don't play stupid! Where are your comrades, the other gundam pilots?"

"Awe, why would I tell you that? It would spoil all of my fun of watching you fail pathetically in your search."

"Maybe this will help you make up your mind." The man reached up and took a swing at Duo, connecting with his jaw. The man then kicked Duo's chair back, causing it to fall backwards. As it hit the floor all of his weight was put on his awkwardly tied wrists. He could feel both of his hands throbbing and just looked up and sighed; "This is going to be a long night."

The man unhooked Duo from his chair and literally threw him across the room where he hit the wall painfully. The man picked him up by his shirt collar and threw him again. He succeeded in ripping Duo's shirt as well as hearing a grunt of pain as he hit the floor. Duo struggled to get up to his knees but was pushed up against the wall behind him. As he was pinned there the man punched him over and over in the stomach, hitting his gunshot wound every time.

"They're not going to come for you ya know. We're not in the middle of a war so all five of you aren't needed. They'll see you as an acceptable loss." He said as he pushed his thumb down hard on the wound in Duo's thigh.

"That's what we learned in our training. We never did go by that well." Duo replied through gritted teeth.

The rest of Duo's night was spent getting the tar beaten out of him in between his smart-ass comments.

The rest of the gundam pilots arrived at the newly rebuilt Peace Million, which was set up as their meeting point.

"Where's Duo?" Quatre said while looking around the room. Wufei, shrugging it off, turned on the TV to the news. All of the gundam pilot's heads snapped to the TV after hearing "We have captured the gundam pilot 02." There was a shout of "Turn it up." Before they listened to the broadcast.

A tall, lean soldier looked out into the crowd before continuing.

"I will repeat. We have successfully captured the gundam pilot 02." He once again let the crowd take in what he said, then spoke again.

"You can consider us the new OZ if you wish. But, we are going to go about things differently. Are main objective is to hunt down and destroy all the former gundam pilots. Somehow the gundam pilots got wind of us and attacked earlier today. This worked to our advantage, and is how we managed to capture one of them. As of right now we do not care about the colonies or the earth." He stopped to listen to some shout from the crowd before talking over them.

"We are only declaring war against the gundam pilots, and those who fight along side of them." He reaches into his pocket and takes out a cross necklace and the holds it out to the crowd.

"This is the proof to the gundam pilots. We're not bluffing, we do indeed have your friend." With that said he turned to walk off the stage when a voice from the crowd called out.

"That's not proof, we need to see the pilot!"

The man smirked before turning to one of his buddies and nodding his head. The other man walked off stage for a minute before returning with the said pilot in his grasp. He tossed Duo on the ground and the crowd grew silent. He looked horrible. His hands and legs were tied so he couldn't move and his cloths were torn to shreds, pretty much only covering the essentials. Although all of his clothes were covered in blood enough of his body was shown to tell where his two gunshot wounds were and where slashes from what looked like a knife all over his torso and upper legs. Duo looked at the crowd, but couldn't focus on them. His vision was fading and he knew he was going to pass out soon.

"How can you do this!" A man yelled from the crowd.

"Yeah! The wars over, the gundam pilots are heroes, leave that poor boy alone!" A woman said, backing the man up.

Duo smiled at this. At least he could take some comfort knowing that everybody didn't hate him. The man who had thrown him on the stage quickly picked him up to make sure that someone didn't try to save him. He thought this was going to end well for him till he heard another person yell out.

"What are you talking about? The gundam pilots are murderers, they all need to be gotten rid of. I supports this new organization."

A lot of 'yeahs' were heard in the crowd, but Duo couldn't see well enough to tell that they were almost all from the new 'OZ'. Duo fainted before he was taken off the stage but remembered hitting the bed of the truck he was being transported in. Before his mind blanked out on him all he could hear was the people in the crowd yelling for him demise. So what if two people are for you when the yells of fifty more are against you.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Looks like he's gotten himself into trouble again." Wufei said turning off the T.V

"Now is not the time for jokes Wufei." Quatre protested.

"There's a call coming through" Howard called to the group.

The TV screen went dark before a very pissed-off Hilde showed up on it.

"What the hell happened? You guys saw the broadcast right?"

"Yes we saw it Hilde, just calm down. We're going to find him." Quatre said trying to calm the girl down

"How can I calm down? Please you have to help him, he doesn't look good."

"Yes, will handle everything." Trowa replied.

"I'm going to come as well." Hilde said as she ended the transmission.

"Well that's great. First braid-boy gets in trouble, and now we have to watch that girl too. Can we just send her shopping or somthin'?" Wufei groaned.

"Well there's really nothing we can do now. I'm sure she'll end up helping us in the end." Quatre stated.

"She'll just get in are way." Wufei argued back.

"We don't know that. It might do Duo some good to see her when we find him. It'll at least take some worries out of his mind so he can concentrate on healing." Quatre said while walking out of the room.

It had bee a week sense that broadcast to the nation, and a week sense Duo had been captured. He was growing weaker, and weaker from the daily beating. They had patched up his gunshot wounds, stitched them up while he was still awake and even pried the bullet left in his leg without pain medicine. On top of everything with out his meds he was having his nightmares again. Everything he had done during the war and his life before it would come flooding back at night. Now he was having dreams about his friends and Hilde's death. Pointing out the obvious, he was hardly sleeping and without sleep he wasn't recovering from what they were doing to him.

They probably wanted to see how long he would last with the beating they put him through. He hated to admit, but with every beating and nightmare he lost a little bit more hope of being rescued. And he was starting doubt that he would ever make it out of there alive.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Here's the second chapter. Even though these seem short, you should have seem em the first go around. R&R The first part is a dream and any other flash backs or dreams will begin after a row of X's and end before another row.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He was home, safe, and in the company of his friends. Hilde was latched onto his arm, beaming brightly. Everyone was having a good time, even Wufei and Heero. Duo turned at the sound of someone knocking on the door. He walked calmly to the door and opened it. Standing there was Solo, Sister Helen, and Father Maxwell. He greeted them warmly as they walked in. There was tap on his shoulder, and he turned to see Heero.

"What's up Heero?" Duo asked.

"Wake up!" Heero said, in a voice nothing like his own.

"What? What's wrong with your voice, Heero?" Duo inquired

"Wake up former Gundam pilot, 02!" Heero yelled.

Heero then punched him in the face. Duo tried to bring his hands to his nose, but couldn't. They were tied together, and he was hanging from the ceiling. He could feel blood sliding down his arms, from where the skin had worn off his wrists. There was also blood dripping from his nose over his lips.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He looked up to see all of his friends fade away. He was shocked to see his home fade to a white room. And even more surprised to see Heero transform into a heavy set, black hair, and green-eyed man. He didn't want to believe it. He was alone again, alone with the enemy.

The guard punched Duo in the stomach and yelled "Wake up now!"

Duo groaned for a few seconds, and then moaned out "Just leave me alone."

"What was that?" The guard said while hitting him in the stomach again.

Duo was thinking about reaching up and kicking him, but he was too weak. The guard took out a knife, and slid it up Duo's bear stomach. Blood replaced where the knife had been. It wasn't too deep, but still painful. The man then cut the rope, binding Duo to the ceiling. Duo hit the ground with a thud, and let out a grunt in pain. He lay there and didn't move, he felt like shit. The guard went to the corner of the room, and picked up a metal pipe about 4ft long. He raised the pipe over his head, then looked down and smirked at Duo before bringing the pipe hard down into the former Gundam pilots stomach. Duo gasped and fought back the urge to scream out loud. Instead he curled slightly into a ball. The guard smiled and licked the blood off the pipe, from where it had hit Duo's open wound.

"You know if you just told us where the other pilots are, we'd kill you faster. That way there would be no more torture." The guard sneered

Duo looked up at the man chuckled "Bite me. You'll never find them, you're to stupid."

That wasn't the answer that the guard wanted to hear, and he was pissed. He brought the metal pipe down again, but this time on Duo's right thighbone. Duo was positive that he heard a pop and crack, and from his new pain knew it was broken. The pain he was in was so intense, it was numbing.

"Why the hell did I think that dream was real? I know Solo, Sister Helen, and Father Maxwell are dead. They are dead because they knew the god of death. Everyone who knew me ended up dead sooner or later. Maybe it would be good if I died." Duo thought. He slowly started to lose consciousness when he hears the man yell again.

"Sill ignoring me, boy?" The guard growled as he grabbed a bucket of ice water and threw it on him.

The guard kicked Duo in the head, unfortunately not knocking him out. He then dragged the Gundam pilot back to his cell, and headed back to his own room for sleep. Duo laid there trying hard to stay awake. It's close to three weeks now and he had officially lost hope. He had lost a lot of weight and couldn't even stand on his own anymore. His nightmares had been growing worse and he couldn't tell which was worse, his dreams or his reality. As he stared at the wall he slowly fell asleep and let his nightmares take over.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He slowly walked in the front door of his apartment that he shared with Hilde and was met with darkness. As he fumbled around for the lights and turned them on he noticed a preventors jacket lying across the couch. He immediately knew it wasn't his, but thought it looked familiar. He heard noise coming from his bedroom and walked back to check it out. As he opened the door he had to take a step back and dropped the jacket in his hand. The jacket belonged to Heero who was currently in bed with his girlfriend. Duo felt like he was going to be sick, how could they betray him like that. His best friend and his girlfriend, he just couldn't wrap his head around it.

"Oh look who finally came home." Hilde said with a snicker in her voice.

"How- how long have you two?" Duo couldn't even finish his sentence.

"About a year now, you never were good enough Duo. I do know why they call him the perfect soldier now though."

Duo couldn't speak and never got a chance to as a group of about four men came in carrying guns. They ordered all three of them on the ground with their hands over their heads. As they stole everything they could the looked back and spotted Hilde.

"Well we can't just leave her now can we?" One of the men said as they picked her up by her hair.

"No, leave her alone!" Duo yelled as he jumped up and pushed the man off of her. The man turned and fired one shot that went through Duo's chest and he knew it had hit something vital. Duo fell to the ground and turned to look at Hilde. "Are you okay?" He gurgled out. The bullet had definitely gone through a lung.

"Why did you do that? It was in vain, that's not going to make me love you!" Hilde yelled at him. He just looked at her sadly as his vision started to blur. He heard a rustling behind him and then saw a man step in front of him, grab Hilde, and put a gun to her head.

"Please don't!" Duo begged.

As the man cocked his gun Hilde looked up at Duo with hate in her eyes. "This is all you fault, you're the God of death! Everyone who you care about dies! You deserve to be lonely, you're a pitiful little orphan. You've killed everyone around you. You deserve to die, no one loves you and no one ever will. You will continue to be used and thrown away until the day you die." As she finished the man fired the gun. He left with the other three men and everything they had stolen.

Heero looked down with disgust at Duo. "Look what you did, you killed her." He spit at him and then turned and left him lying, bleeding, and crying on the floor as he slowly died.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Duo sat up in his cell, breathing quickly. His body protested greatly at the sudden movements and forced him to lay back down. He was shaking as his hands reached up to touch his face and he could tell that he was crying.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Are we getting close yet?" Hilde asked.

"Yes, very close. Is there anyone here who doesn't know what to do when we get there?" Quatre asked.

"I think everyone knows. They're simple instructions. I just don't see why she is joining us." Wufei said.

"I can help too!" Hilde yelled.

"Yeah, help get in the way." Wufei retorted

"Calm down guys. Everyone suit up, we've reached our destination." Quatre ordered.

Their objectives were simple. Heero was to find and kill the leader of the fake OZ. Trowa would shut down all electrical power on the ship. Wufei needed to find and destroy all mobile suits and dolls. Hilde was to find Duo, but leave the ship twenty minutes after everyone else. Quatre would float in between all of the 'mini' missions, to make sure everything ran smoothly. Hilde was to leave late so that the other Gundam pilots could get rid of most of the soldiers on board. After each person was done with their job, they would ether help someone else, or report back to their ship.

It had only been five minutes sense the Gundam pilots had left, and Hilde was growing more inpatient by the second. She couldn't stop thinking about Duo. She hated not knowing if he was alive or dead. A part of her didn't want to go find him, in fear of having to carry a dead body back to the ship.

"How could you be so careless as to get captured, you're so stupid sometimes. I bet you're already dead... What the hell am I thinking! Your a Gundam pilot, you'll make it out of here some how. I just ho-" Hilde's thoughts were cut off by a beeping nose.

The intercom was going off. She picked it up to hear Quatre's voice on the other line, saying she could come on board now. She suited up and prepared to exit the ship she was on. She looked up and sighed, then left to find Duo.

The ship was dark, but still had some of the backup lights on. Hilde walked around the ship. Sense the gravity had not been turned off. She figured Trowa would leave that on, to make it easier to get around. As she searched her mind wondered to good times her and Duo shared, at the moment one memory kept plaguing her mind.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

She had just gotten off of work and headed back to her and Duo's apartment. Duo had taken the day off and so she gave him a list of chores to do. All he had to do was clean the house and get some groceries. As she walked in the door she saw Duo sprawled out on the floor, not moving, and ran to him side.

"Duo are you okay?" She asked as she knelt beside him.

"No, I'm not. I can't believe I lost!"

Hilde looked up at the T.V screen, which read 'Game Over' in big letters. She looked down and glared at him. "Are you telling me I got so worried about you because you lost to a video game? Have you done any of the chores I asked you to do?"

"Nope." Duo replied honestly as he leaned up and propped himself up on his elbows.

Hilde let out a frustrated sigh as she looked at him to yell some more, but found that she couldn't. She could never stay made at him. He has that child like grin plastered on his face and pure innocence in his eyes. Before she could react he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her down so that she fell and was on top of him. He smiled at her again and then leaned in and kissed her. After he broke away he smirked and asked if she was still mad at him.

"Shut-up." Was her only reply before she leaned down and captured his lips with hers.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They played around like that sometimes. After only a few kisses though, Duo would get really antsy and make up something he had to do. She would always say "Duo, you know were friends right?" He would flinch at the friends part and walk away before she could finish with "so you can always talk to me." She remembered one time he had gotten real sick and was rambling as she was trying to get his fever to break. She was dabbing a cold cloth on his forehead and he kept talking about his past. She learned that night how he got his first and last names. She also found out that the reason he called himself the 'God of Death' is because anyone who got to close to him died. Although he didn't give details, she had never heard anything on that topic from him. He said that the reason he got quiet every now and then was because his memories would get the best of him. He even took it a step further and told her very cutely that the reason she would wake up every now and then with him in her bed was because he was out of his meds and couldn't handle his past by himself. Although the next morning he didn't remember a thing and asked if he said anything stupid.

She heard someone groaning, and prayed it was Duo. She turned a corner, and came across a room that still had lights on in it. When she took her first step into the room she thought she would come to find Duo there, but that wasn't what she found. Inside the plane room was a husky guard lying in a puddle of his own blood on the floor. Hilde turned to leave but stopped when she saw something silver that caught her eye. On a hook by the door hung Duo's cross necklace. She walked over to it, and reached out to touch it. She plucked it off the wall and put it around her neck before continuing down the hallway.


	3. Chapter 3

Please R&R  
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was dark, and very cold. Duo laid there and waited for his eyes to adjust. He felt like he was lying in a puddle. He raised one of his hands up to his eyes. There was blood all over his fingers.

"Great." He thought as he laid his hand back down.

"Now I'm going to bleed to death." He said with Irony in his voice.

He had given up all hope of ever being saved. He waited for death to come, figuring his friends had forgotten about him. In his mind he saw them carrying on with their lives as if nothing has changed. Laughing and forgetting that he ever existed. Hilde would find someone else to love and never even look back. He never even got a chance to tell her he loved her.  
- - - -

Wondering through the halls had become tiring. And each time she rounded another corner, her hopes of finding Duo alive dwindled. The other four pilots were probably all done with their missions and back on the ship by now. It had been an hour since she started looking, and all she had for her work was Duo's necklace.

Rounding a corner with hardly any guards, she heard a rustling coming from behind one of the doors. Setting up a small explosive, she blew up the control pad to the room.

"Duo?" She said as she inched the door open.

She heard a groan in reply, and opened the door the rest of the way. The room was dark, musty, freezing and smelled like blood. In the corner of the room laid a figure curled up in a ball. As Hilde got closer she saw that it was lying in a pool of blood.

"Duo!" Hilde screamed kneeling next to him and laying her hand on his back.

"Hilde?" Duo groaned, rolling over to face her.

"Oh my God, what happened to you?"

"Just a bad couple of weeks, no big." Duo said trying to ignore all the pain, as he pushed himself to a sitting position. As her eyes adjusted she could see just in what kind of shape he was in. He was far to skinny and his hair was totally loose of its braid and fell around his shoulders. He was down to his boxer-briefs and even those were now just scraps. He looked like a scared kid and it hit Hilde hard to remember that they were only eighteen. He was just a kid, and no one should have had to go through this. He was cut up pretty bad and didn't look like he had slept in years. His lips were dried and chapped and she could tell from the tinge of pink around his eyes that he had been crying recently. His eyes were also dull and held almost no life to them, the once vibrant violet hue that could instantly brighten a room held no hope or warmth in them.

"Hilde, could you pinch me or something? I need to know you're actually there. I'm not hallucinating again am I?"

Hilde about started crying when she heard this. She pulled him in to a hug and that's when she really began to worry. He was thinner than she thought. His skin was so cold and he was shaking. His hair was matted at the ends and stuck to some of his wounds. As he rested his head on her shoulder she could feel how hot his forehead was and knew he was probably deathly sick on top of his injuries. He weakly started to cough as he rested most of his weight against her. She pulled out a bottle of water the she had brought with her and unscrewed the lid.

"Here, drink this." Hilde said as she handed him the bottle. The bottle shook in his hands all the way to his mouth so she took it from him and tipped some into his mouth for him. He swallowed the first couple sips before choking a little bit as he started to choke and cough she held him close to her and rubbed his back.

"We need to get you back to the ship, fast. You look horrible and you're burning up."

"Oh thanks Hilde, I missed you too. I'm fine." He said as he got to his feet, trying not to struggle.

"Are you sure you can walk on your own?"

"I'll be alright. Why are you making such a big fuss. It's not like I haven't been hurt before." He said as he took a step towards the door. He barely made it that far before grasping the door for support.

"What's wrong? Please Duo, let me help you."

"I'd be fine if you and the walls would stop moving around." He said as he dropped to his knees and then passed out.

"Duo? Duo, wake up! If you don't live through this I'm going to bring you back just to kill you myself Duo Maxwell. You can't leave me, you just can't. " Hilde said as she picked him up and headed for the ship.

- - - - - -

Back on the ship the five pilots were growing restless. None of them but Quatre showed it though. He was very close to making a hole in the floor from pacing.

"They should be back by now. It's been a hour and a half."

"They're fine Quatre. Hilde probably had a hard time finding him." Trowa replied.

No sooner had he gotten those words out of his mouth, the ship door opened. Hilde slowly walked in carrying a still knocked-out Duo in her arms. She looked very tired and was covered in his blood. Heero walked up to Hilde and took Duo from her, setting him on a near by cot.

"He's still breathing, but his pulse is slowing down. He needs a doctor." Heero said, a little bit or worry poking through in his voice.

"Hilde, why don't you take a shower and then get some sleep. We'll take care of Duo, we not far from a hospital." Trowa stated.

Hilde nodded weakly and headed for the bathroom.

After a hot shower she laid down to sleep, but all she thought about was Duo. She didn't know how long she lay there and stared at the ceiling, but finally Trowa came in to say they had reached a nearby colony.

Reaching the hospital, they were surrounded my doctors and nurses. Hilde and the other pilots were ushered into the waiting room, as they immediately took Duo to the O.R.

They waited hours before a doctor finally came out.

"Doctor, is Duo all right, Will he be ok? Please I need to know." Hilde said running up to the doctor.

"It doesn't look good. Your friend has suffered a lot of internal bleeding, infections from his wounds, a concussion, and a couple broken bones. To be honest I can believe he's alive right now. A normal person would be dead. His temperature is through the roof. It doesn't look good, I'm very sorry. We need to operate on him again, but we can't unless he regains some strength. We're going to need to cut his hair pretty short too, it's matted and sticking to wounds. So if you guys were having some kind of bet it's over." The doctor looked down and then turned to walk out of the room.

"Wait! He didn't grow it long for a bet it's sentimental. You said that you can't operate on his for a while right? Let me fix his hair please." Hilde begged. Duo didn't need any decreases in morale right now.

"All right, but you only have a couple hours."

Everyone was quiet and just stood there shocked after they entered Duo's room. The nurse had said they could all go in and see him if they wanted. As they walked back to his room they could smell alcohol and disinfectant. When they reached his bedside, reality hit all of them. He was hooked up to so many monitors. All of them keeping him alive. The four pilots stayed awhile and then left to call their women, to let them know what was going on. Hilde on the other hand pulled up a chair behind Duo's bed.

She started trying to get the knots out but they didn't seem to want to budge. The nurses were kind enough to give her enough room and the materials to wash his hair, but it still wasn't working. She had been working for about a half-hour when Trowa walked in.

"It's just hair. It'll grow back you know?"

"You and I both know it's not just hair to him, it's his past. I can't just take it away from him."

"…Alright, move over." Trowa said as he started to help. After a few minutes Trowa had gotten it so there was only about an inch of matted hair at the ends before he dug out some scissors.

"How'd you learn to do that?"

"I work at a circus. Do you know how hard it is to get paint out of your hair? The girls in my troop don't stop complaining until it's out. I just figured out how to get it out so they would stop whining,"

"You don't like people to know you care do ya? Hey, wait. I thought you said you weren't going to cut any of it."

"There is no way you're getting that out. An inch is much better than a foot. It'd be just like a trim."

"Fine, just be careful." After Trowa had finished he handed her a hair-tie one of the nurses had brought him and left.

Hilde couldn't braid it with Duo lying on his back so she settled with a low ponytail. His hair looked so much longer out of the braid and had to have at least reached past his hips. When she was satisfied with her work she moved her chair to be next to him. She just sat there holding hid hand for what seemed like hours. She fell asleep still sitting there at about 3am. The next morning Quatre came in and woke her up at about eleven.

"Hilde."

"Huh, was I out long?" Hilde said lifting her head up

"Go find a nice hotel and get some rest. I'll watch Duo for awhile. They'll be taking him back for his second surgery soon."

After a little arguing, Hilde finally decided she did need some sleep. After she found a hotel she crashed the rest of the day.

Quatre was the first of the pilots to be with Duo alone. He sat in the chair Hilde had recently left and grabbed Duo's hand.

"I'm so sorry Duo. I should have made sure you were still behind us, it's entirely my fault. You said you'd stay in the back to make sure we all got out, but who was watching your back? We needed another plan, I should have made a better plan." Quatre laid his head down for a minute before getting up and walking towards the door. Before he left he turned back and said sadly "Please make it our of this somehow. Hilde needs you and so do the rest of us. I don't know what the others or I will do if you don't pull through. I can't even think about that."

About an hour after Quatre left the room Trowa walked quietly in. He just stood there for a few minutes before finally speaking. "We're a team. No, we're more like a family. I don't know why that concept won't sink in with us. All of us, besides Quatre, have never really had a stable family and even he only had the Maganac Corp. Maybe that's the reason we won't admit that we are each other's brothers. I know the only reason I can say this is because you can't hear me. We were brought up to be guarded, not to let anyone get close, and I think it's going to end up being our downfall. Ju- Just… Just don't leave you family behind. I can't bury you."

As Trowa walked out Wufie walked in and leaned on the wall closest to Duo's bed. He, like Trowa, stayed silent for a few minutes before talking. "You're a pain in the ass. You're always getting into trouble and I think you enjoy watching us get mad at you. I always thought you should have spent less time making friends out of us and more time on getting stronger. I always thought that was what was going to get you killed, but it's what saved you. We hardly slept until we found you and then made a plan that we knew would keep you safe. If your plan the whole time was to make it so we couldn't live with you, but also not without you, you succeeded. Wake up, stop pulling one of your stupid pranks and open your eyes. You know I asked Sally come here all the way from Earth to be your doctor? I never ask for anything, so don't make it be in vain."

Wufie left and after dark Heero came in and sat in the chair that was still by Duo's bed. He just put his head in his hands before he started talking. "You're an idiot. You've never been serious enough on the missions. You got yourself into this, get yourself out. God, Why do I feel like this is my fault. All four of you, and Relena, have done something and I don't like it. I'm not supposed to care. I'm the perfect soldier. Just wake up. Everyone's waiting for you so get up. The air around everyone is too tense, we need you to say or do something stupid to lighten the mood. Get your lazy ass up and make it okay." Heero got up after awhile of silence and joined the others in the waiting room. As he sat down Relena stood up and headed to Duo's room.

Relena sat down on the edge of Duo's bed, grabbed his hand, and started talking right away. "You know the first time I met you, you shot Heero… Twice actually. I saw you again at a school I transferred to in my search for Heero. I thought right off the bat that I wished Heero were more like you. Isn't that funny? You were so open, or at least you appeared to be. I know there's stuff you don't talk about, not even to Hilde. Hopefully one day you'll trust her enough to tell her those things. If you could only see her right now, she's a mess. She hasn't said a word, just stares into space. I think she'll be staying the night here whether the doctors say she can or not. The others are bent out of shape too. Quatre looks outwardly to be taking most of the blame. It's written all over his face and he keeps talking about things he thinks he could have done to have prevented this or to find you sooner. Trowa has been staring at the same tile on the floor for an hour. I don't know him well, but his face shows the worry he has. Wufei has been hassling the doctors and nurses every half-hour. I think being mean makes him feel better. Only Sally has gotten him to sit still for more than five minutes. Although Quatre appears to have the most guilt I think Heero is blaming himself the most. Although his face doesn't show it; if you get close enough to look in his eyes you can tell. That boy's emotions have always been pretty plane to see in his eyes if you look close enough. I don't think he'd ever admit to this or repeat it to me again, but you are his beast friend. Please make it through this, I don't think the guys will ever be the same if you don't. We need your comic relief. Out of all of us I think you were the glue holding our group together and without you being together will be too painful and so we will all fraction off into our little groups." Relena leaned down and kissed his forehead before heading out the door.

Duo made it through his second surgery, but shortly after Hilde had to leave for a few days. On the second day that she was gone Duo started to stir. He woke up with no one there and panicked for a minute. Soon after, though, a nurse walked in saw that he was awake and ran out again. When she came back Heero, Wufei, Quatre, Trowa, and Relena were right behind her. They just stood there and stared in disbelief at him. Duo painfully forced himself to sit up when Sally came in.

"Don't even think about it, lay back down now. Your friends tongues might not be working right now but I'm not having you any more injured than you already are."

"Okay, Okay. How long have I been out?"

"Almost two-weeks." Quatre answered disbelief still evident in his voice. A sniffle was heard in the room before Relena ran up to his bed.

"Hey Lena, why all the tears?"

"Oh be quiet, two weeks. You've been unconscious for two weeks. It has felt like two years." She replied as she hugged and kissed his forehead like she had earlier in the week.

"Where's Hilde? She was the one who came and got me wasn't she?"

"Yes, she was. She left two days ago to keep your guy's junkyard from going under. She should be back soon." Quatre answered.

"Well I'm happy to see you all. I really thought you forgot about me."

"Idiot." Was all Heero, Trowa, and Wufei could get out of their mouths.

- - - - -

Hilde had been going to visit Duo everyday for the past week But on her way to see Duo on a Friday morning one of her employees at the junk yard called saying she had to come back to work. She would have just said no, but she ran the risk of losing her and Duo's home. Before she left she visited Duo one last time. Leaning down she put Duo's cross necklace back around his neck. She then kissed him lightly on the lips and left.

She wasn't gone but four days when she came back to check on him. She walked down the hall to Duo's room, but when she rounded the corner she found the bed empty. She stopped one of the nurses who seemed pretty upset in the hall.

"Excuse me, do you know what happened to the boy in this room? His name was Duo, Duo Maxwell.'

"Oh, I'm so sorry dear, he's gone. He friends signed the arrangement papers today. He was so young. Well I need to clean the room for the next poor young fellow that needs it."

Hilde couldn't believe what she was hearing. Duo was dead? Her Duo, gone? She walked out of the hospital looking like a zombie. She couldn't go back to her and Duo's house now. She wouldn't be able to take it. Instead she headed to her families summer cottage by the beach on Earth.

Meanwhile back in Duo's old room a doctor came in to see a teary nurse.

"What's wrong nurse?"

"Oh, nothing sir. My allergies are acting up so bad. I think I'm allergic to one of the cleaners."

"Well there should be a young girl visiting here today, she goes by the name Hilde. Could you tell her that somehow that young man got well enough to be released? I don't know how he managed it. Young people today, they're almost invincible."

"Yes sir, I'll tell her."

"Thank you very much." The doctor then turned and left the room.

"I wonder if that girl that was here earlier was Hilde?" The nurse said to herself as she continued cleaning.

- - - - - - - - - - -

"Why Can't I get a hold of her!"

"Duo, calm down. You're still injured. She's not home?" Quatre asked.

"No, she hasn't been for two weeks!"

"Hey guys, we just got a letter from Hilde." Wufie said walking in the room.

"Let me have that!" Duo said snatching it from Wufie.

"Duo, calm down, let me see it." Trowa said taking it from Duo and then reading it out loud.

"Hi to all of you, I hope you guys are well. I'm sorry I haven't been in touch, I've been staying at a family cottage. I went to go visit Duo about a week ago and they told me that he had died. I just couldn't face you all. I know you all knew him longer than I did, but I still loved him very much. Please tell me when the funeral is, if there is one. Sincerely, Hilde."

"She thinks I'm dead?"

"Well that explains a lot." Heero said from the corner of the room.

"Duo, where are you going? You're in no condition to pilot a ship. For heaven sake you're confined to a wheel chair!" Quatre protested.

"I have to find her. She has a cottage on Earth. I should be able to make a short trip without killing myself." Duo then left for the hanger.

"Those two are more trouble then they are worth." Wufie mumbled, surfing through the channels on the TV.

- - - - - - - - - -

The ocean seemed so dull. Everything seemed dull to her now. He was everything to her, and now he was gone. She just sat there looking at the waves, not noticing a man limping up behind her.

"You know it's a pain in the butt to track you down."

Hilde turned to see Duo staring down at her with a weak smile.

"Duo? It can't be you. I thought you were dead? They told me you were dead."

"Were have you been getting your information babe? I've been trying to find you for the past two weeks."

"You- you're alive. I can't believe it. I thought you were gone forever." Hilde said as she sprang up on her feet and hugged Duo.

"Easy babe, I'm not up ta full health yet. Probably should still be in the hospital." Duo said with a cocky grin as he fell forward into her.

"Duo!"

"Sorry, I'm supposed to be in a wheel chair for the next month. Have you ever tried getting one through the sand? I gave up about a foot into it."

Hilde started to laugh lightly as she lowered Duo and herself onto the sand so he could sit down.

"I'm so happy you're alive. Promise you'll never leave me again."

"Good to know I was missed. Alright, I promise I won't leave, on purpose."

"Fair enough. We need to get you something to eat, you're still way to skinny."

"That's what the guys kept saying… Babe, I'm gonna say something and you can't laugh at me."

"Why would I do that?"

"To be mean. Okay, I know we've lived together for a while and we're really good friends."

"Yeah. Duo, you're not still dying right?"

"No, now just let me get this out."

"Okay…"

"We've been friends for a long time, but I have to tell you something. I haven't seen us as friends for a couple months now."

"Oh, I- I can move out when you're healed if that's what you want." Hilde interrupted, looking down.

"Stop talking. I- I.. Damn it, why is this so hard to say. Probably because of the rejection that will follow it. You know what, never mind.

"No, you have my attention and I want to know."

"We've kissed a couple times, but always decided we were just friends. I went along with it because I thought having you as a friend was better than nothing, but I was wrong. I- I… Jesus just spit it out. Okay, I love you. I have for awhile. I'm sorry, I know I'm a gundam pilot and the God of death, and an orphan so it's oka-"

"Stop rambling." Hilde said and little more forceful than she wanted.

"Right." Duo said sadly as he tried to stand on his own again. "I knew I shouldn't have told you, I just couldn't stay quiet." He managed to get half way standing before Hilde grabbed his arm and pulled him back down. He just sat there not looking at her, which made her smile a little bit. He was so cute when he was nervous. With her hand still around his wrist she pulled him closer to her until most of his weight was on her. With her other hand she turned his head to look at her and then kissed him hard on the mouth. It took him a second to get over his shock and kiss her back.

"I love you too Duo Maxwell." Is all she said before she laid back and pulled him on top of her so they could continue what they had started.

"Wait seriously? It- It's alright if you don't" Duo questioned as he pulled away for a minute.

"Duo?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut-up." Hilde responded as she pulled him down once more.

From a near by hiding place four men poked their heads out to see the couple.

"I told you he'd be fine." Wufei said to Quatre.

"I just wanted to make sure."

"Did you have to bring us with you?" Trowa questioned.

"You guys know you wanted to come."

"Hn." Was the only response Heero gave as he started to leave with Wufei right behind him.

"Hey, where are you guys going?" Quatre questioned.

"Calm down Quatre they each just need to see someone." Trowa said as he got up to follow suit.

"Oooh."

THE END

Please R&R


End file.
